The Calon Series: Playful Heart
by MufflerVon
Summary: Just a short one. Inspired by a moment of play yesterday with the adorable one year old Seren. Regina and Calon play and Emma enjoys watching.


Playful Heart

Emma had learned from a very young age that the stairs gave a great vantage point for everything that went on in a house. Every home she had been moved to, the first thing Emma had done was work out where on the stairs you needed to be sat to have a view of what was going on downstairs without actually being seen by anyone. It was a habit that had stayed with Emma into adulthood and even now, she looked at stairs and mentally calculated the best step and position on that step.

When she had moved into Regina's house, by the first morning, she had worked out that sat on the far left of the fourth step down from the top, gave an excellent view into the sitting room. You could see the whole of the floor in front of the fireplace, plus half of each of the two sofas and the feet of the armchair. All while being invisible to any of the room's occupants. This was where Emma currently found herself.

She had come in from work and gone straight upstairs to change. She hadn't known where Regina or Calon were, but she needed to get out of her work clothes. She had a quick shower and put on some comfort clothes – leggings, her beloved New York Dolls t-shirt and Regina's fluffy thick socks. Before going downstairs she stopped in at Henry's room. Henry had his friend Jake over to sleep for the night. The boys were currently engrossed in a video game and Emma could see a stock of sweets, chips and fizzy drinks. There was no way the boys would be sleeping anytime soon with all that sugar in them! Henry managed to drag his eyes away from the screen long enough to say a quick hello to Emma and throw her a grin before he was drawn back into the game. Emma shut his bedroom door tight before making her way to the stairs. As she started down the stairs she heard Calon screaming laughing coming from the living room.

So she stopped on her special step and sat down to see why her son was laughing.

The sight made Emma smile so much her cheeks hurt. The floor was covered in toys. Just next to the fireplace, Regina had set up the plastic animals in a row. Emma could see the ring tailed lemur; Henry's favourite. His new game was to show it to Calon while carefully pronouncing ring-tailed-le-mur to him and encouraging him to repeat the words. Henry was determined that if Calon's first word wasn't Henry (it had been tree – while pointing to Regina's beloved apple tree, much to her delight), then it was going to be a word that he had taught his little brother. Neither Henry nor Calon were bored of this game yet and it amused the two mothers no end.

Square in the middle of the rug next to the fire was a big plastic play set with a slide on one side and lots of holes to crawl through and flaps to open. Calon was still a little nervous to try the slide but he loved crawling backwards under it. And that was exactly what he was currently doing. The reason for his giggling was his Mom.

Regina was on her knees, with her head stuck through one of the holes and she was grabbing for Calon's toes. He would shuffle out of her way and then she would appear in another hole and grab for him again. Emma thought she could sit and watch this scene forever. Added to the adorableness of this moment, were the crazy things her family were currently wearing. Regina had on a cowboy hat and fairy wings. Calon had a batman cape and a crown. The dressing up box had obviously been opened up and Regina had indulged as well as Calon. Calon had now managed to escape his Mom's clutches and was heading for the animals. He managed to swipe the tiger before Regina captured him and as she swung him up over her head he roared at her and pushed the hat off her head.

Emma heard a creak behind her and Henry came to sit beside her on her step. He leaned his head on her shoulder and watched with his Ma. Emma leaned her head against Henry's and spoke quietly. "I missed all this with you kid. Sometimes I feel like I've missed out on your whole life". Henry lifted his head and looked her in the eye. "I wish you could have been there Ma. I wish I'd had you and Mom all my life. But you did the right thing. What Mom's doing now – she did stuff like that with me all the time. It may only be now that I see it, but she's a great mom and I only got her cos you did the right thing and gave me up. I love you Ma". Henry leaned over and kissed Emma on the cheek before getting back up and heading for his bedroom. Just before he got to his door, Emma called after him "Hey Henry? I love you my boy". He smiled and went back into his room.

Emma sighed and slowly turned back to look into the living room, but instead of seeing her family playing on the floor, Regina was stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding Calon to her shoulder with a confused smile on her face. Emma smiled at the sight of her supposed straight laced girlfriend still wearing her fairy wings and now slightly askew hat. She pulled herself up from her step using the banister and descended the stairs, putting a little more sway in her steps than normal. Regina arched an eyebrow as Emma neared her and grinned as Emma's lips descended then met hers. Calon, unlike Henry, couldn't complain when his moms kissed, so Emma and Regina lingered in their kiss, lips meeting lips again and again, until both women were breathless.

Regina was the first to recover breath enough to speak. "So, dare I even ask why you were sat on the stairs darling?" "I was watching you, beautiful. You and my son. You were just so carefree, playing on the floor. I know you do it a lot and I've seen it tons of times before…..but, I don't know…it just made me really happy. Watching you and Calon…it….just makes me really happy." Emma looked down as she finished speaking and poked her toes into the carpet.

"I promise, for as long as I live, I'll do everything I can to make you happy Emma." Regina reached for Emma again and kissed her lovingly. It just wasn't possible to relay how much she loved Emma through a kiss, but she was trying. Both women had tears in their eyes as they parted this time. Emma was about to speak, but Calon was bored with being quiet and behaving, so he took his crown off and poked Emma in the chin with it. Emma laughed and lunged for the boy, stealing him from Regina and raspberry kissing his neck. Regina grabbed Emma by the waist and pulled her towards the living room. "Come on Ma" giggled Regina, "there's a pirate hat and feather boa with your name written on it….."


End file.
